Society/Culture Billionaires
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are we to blame for this?
we keep voting for politicians that allow billionaires to exist. This is on us.
moncon
Benchwarmer
I know three billionaires, all of them in their 70s: I have a beer at the pub with one of them every now and again.
B1: left school at 15, scrappy fighter type, worked like a bastard for about 30 years, made sacrifices like I never would, total son-of-a-bitch when it comes to business, pleasant enough at a personal level but good grief you wouldn’t want to cross him.
B2: left school at 15, scrappy fighter type, worked like a bastard for about 30 years, etc etc
B3: inherited small-to mid-sized business, built it up from there, canny investments, leveraged his contacts which, as he got richer, became more political and (coincidence?) more lucrative. This is the bloke I have a beer with at the local on a “g’day mate how’s it going” basis.
I would say that none of them are particularly happy: broken family relationships, suspicion of other people’s motives bordering on paranoia, and from the little I know about it, their circle of friends appears to be other people like them, rich people with broken family relationships, paranoia, and so on (having said that, the three blokes I’m talking about don’t know each other). None of them are flamboyant about it, nice cars sure but not publicity hounds by any means, low profile more like it.
I know all three donate to charities, but I don’t know how much and I wouldn’t dream of asking. I have no idea what else they do with their wealth but it’s not rocket ships that’s for sure.
Edit: B1 and B2 both from pretty s**t backgrounds and circumstances.
B1: left school at 15, scrappy fighter type, worked like a bastard for about 30 years, made sacrifices like I never would, total son-of-a-bitch when it comes to business, pleasant enough at a personal level but good grief you wouldn’t want to cross him.
B2: left school at 15, scrappy fighter type, worked like a bastard for about 30 years, etc etc
B3: inherited small-to mid-sized business, built it up from there, canny investments, leveraged his contacts which, as he got richer, became more political and (coincidence?) more lucrative. This is the bloke I have a beer with at the local on a “g’day mate how’s it going” basis.
I would say that none of them are particularly happy: broken family relationships, suspicion of other people’s motives bordering on paranoia, and from the little I know about it, their circle of friends appears to be other people like them, rich people with broken family relationships, paranoia, and so on (having said that, the three blokes I’m talking about don’t know each other). None of them are flamboyant about it, nice cars sure but not publicity hounds by any means, low profile more like it.
I know all three donate to charities, but I don’t know how much and I wouldn’t dream of asking. I have no idea what else they do with their wealth but it’s not rocket ships that’s for sure.
Edit: B1 and B2 both from pretty s**t backgrounds and circumstances.
Even centibillionaires are now a thing. Obscene
I’m a utilitarian who believes the marginal value of an extra dollar for the poor is way way higher then the Marginal value of an extra dollar for a millionaire. the marginal value of an extra dollar for a billionaire is zero. Billionaires should not exist. They are an unoptimal utilitarian outcome.
moncon
Benchwarmer
the trouble is, billionaires have always existed: Marcus Crassus, John of Gaunt, Rockefeller, and so on. Not sure what can be done about it.
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That's neither here nor there; so has the plague always existed.
moncon
Benchwarmer
You’re right, plague has always existed: indeed a young girl died of the plague last week in Colorado. The poster I was replying to said that billionaires “should not exist”. Unfortunately billionaires, like the plague, always have existed and perhaps always will. Again, I’m not sure what can be done about it.
Wealth taxes.
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There's no chance of it happening, of course.
You only have to remember the illogical nonsense and squeals provoked when AOC's adviser suggested the perfectly simple 99% tax on anything over $5 million.
I know and it’s extremely disappointing.
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Why place a lid on the capacities of others to exceed your achievements in life?
The achievement at that point isnt thé money. no one is placing a cap that is stopping people from exceeding and achieving. There is nothing anyone can buy for personal consumption that costs 100 million dollars let alone 1 billion dollars.
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Why do you care about their motivation? There's no reason to place a ceiling on the elite.
The one thing I care for is their ability to influence politics.
I have zero care for their motivation.
im not placing any ceiling on the elite.
im redistributing wealth to where it is valued and provides actual happiness.
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You're placing a ceiling by redistributing their wealth.
Why not redistribute the wealth of the middle class?
we would. But their rates would be much lower because they recieve much higher marginal utility from An extra dollar.
we have a progressive income tax system now that is supposed to proxy a wealth tax but does an utterly terrible job at it. replacing the income tax system with a wealth tax system would be vastly superior as a utility maximising tool.
I have no idea if it's possible (I understand that most billionaires wealth comes from the value of their stock price, not liquid cash). Still, a 100% marginal tax on all capital gains that generates an income of a dollar over 12m per annum would be good.
Alternatively, or in addition to this, abolish all taxation and replace it with Henry George's properly implemented land value tax, which is a tax only on unimproved land, which would incentivise the development of residential and commercial property that rich f**ks sit on and do nothing with.
You can go to just about any major city in the world and find old, beaten down, and vacant buildings and properties because there are few consequences to not doing anything with it.
I know personally 1 Billionaire, and sure most of his mates are biliionaires or multi millionaires and leaders of European Financial Institutions... I can even give you the addresses of their summer houses, but they aint the type to mix regularly with plebs at the pub. They're cut off from reality and as they age the smarter they think they are, the dumber they become... Because not many people say NO or OPPOSE people with that kind of money. They're always correct. I've seen it, and I've lived in that space.
Pie eyed
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WE place a lid on the capacity of some to increase their wealth, while not placing a lid on others.
How long since anyone in the general workforce had a meaningful pay rise?
This has been capped by the Libs for a decade now.
